Sunrise
by detective-sweetheart
Summary: number 31 of my prompts...An alarm clock presents an idea.


She sleeps through the sound of the alarm. But he doesn't. Any lying there flat on his back, he can see that the sky is still dark. But it won't be for long. An idea hits him suddenly as he lies there; he isn't sure if it's a good one, but before he can stop himself, he's reaching out and touching her shoulder. She stirs.

"Rowan," he says quietly, "Wake up." She stirs again upon hearing his voice, but only to pull the covers closer around her.

"Too early," she murmurs drowsily. He chuckles softly and starts to tug the covers away from her. She opens an eye to look at him.

"You sure you want to do that?" she asks. He offers up a faint smile at her annoyance and reaches over to trace her lips with his thumb.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he says. He pushes the covers away from him and climbs out of bed, reaching for his glasses on the bureau.

"Where are you going?" she asks.

"Nowhere, unless you come with me," he replies, holding a hand out to her. "I want you to see something."

"John…" She shakes her head. "It's six in the morning. Neither of us have to work today. Why are you doing this to me?"

"Come with me, and you'll see," he replies. Already, the outside sky is starting to lighten. If it takes any longer to get her out of bed, he'll go by himself, but he really doesn't want to.

She notices this and sighs resignedly, sitting up and stifling a yawn. "You'd better have a damn good reason for dragging me out of bed on a Saturday," she warns, pushing away the covers and taking his hand. He laughs, and helps her out of bed, bending down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Well, _I_ think it's a good reason," he says. "Take a blanket with you…you'll need it." She eyes him suspiciously, but takes one of the smaller blankets before allowing him to lead her out of their bedroom.

He keeps his grip on her hand, mostly because he doesn't want her to fall behind. She's still half-asleep and yawning; he makes a mental note to start a pot of coffee when they get back inside. She pulls the apartment door closed behind them and he leads her towards a door at the end of the hall a few floors up.

"Why are we going up to the roof?" she asks warily. "You aren't going to push me off,a re you?"

"Well, there's a fine thing to ask a cop," he says mildly. "Come on, Rowan, of course I'm not going to push you off."

She yawns again and doesn't answer. He continues to lead her up the roof access stairwell and soon they reach the door.

"Now might be the time for this," he says, taking the blanket and wrapping it around their shoulders.

"John, really," she says, "What the hell are we doing?"

He ignores her and pushes the door open, leading her out into the cold. As the door starts to close, he catches it and pushes one of the nearby rocks into the doorway so they won't be locked out. When he looks at her again, she's staring out at the sky. Faint traces of pink and orange are starting to appear amidst the lightening blue. He moves to stand behind her and slides his arms around her waist, leaning so that his mouth is next to her ear.

"You call this a good reason?" he asks, his voice barely a whisper. She nods wordlessly, still watching the sky.

"I've never had time to do this before," she says quietly, leaning back against him. "To…to watch the sunrise, I mean."

"We've got time now," he tells her. "You want to stay here?"

No answer comes. He can tell by the slightly awed look on her face that she's enjoying this, even if she does resent his having woken her up. He makes no attempt to get an answer, content to just share this one fleeting moment with her. Pink and orange are soon joined by pale shades of purple…the colors of a sky not yet tainted by the world around it. Soon, however, it will be just as it always is. So they remain where they are, standing in each other's arms, watching until the lighter shades disappear and the sun can be seen peering at them over other rooftops.

She turns to face him at this point and smiles faintly as she reaches up to kiss him on the mouth. "Good morning."

A/N: Yeah...yet another scene that's gonna end up in "Made to Be Broken"...I tell you, these prompt things are awesome...and, oh yeah...SVU's not mine...but the character of Rowan is...she'll be explained later, though.


End file.
